Learning

Associative and Cognitive Learning

Classical conditioning: learning to link two stimuli in a

way that helps us anticipate an

event to which we have a reaction

Operant conditioning:

changing behavior

choices in response to

consequences

Cognitive learning: acquiring new behaviors and information

through observation and information, rather than by

direct experience

Associative Learning

Child associates his “response” (behavior) with consequences. Child learns to repeat behaviors (saying “please”) which were

followed by desirable results (cookie). Child learns to avoid behaviors (yelling “gimme!”) which were

followed by undesirable results (scolding or loss of dessert).

Associative Learning: Operant Conditioning

Cognitive LearningCognitive learning refers to acquiring new behaviors and information mentally, rather than by direct experience.Cognitive learning occurs: 1.by observing events and the behavior of others. 2.by using language to acquire information about events experienced by others.

Adaptation to the Environment

Learning—any process through which experience at one time can alter an individual’s behavior at a future time

Behaviorism

The attempt to understand observable activity in terms of observable stimuli and observable responses

John B. Watson (1913)B. F. Skinner (1938)

Pavlov’s Dogs

Digestive reflexes and salivation

Psychic secretion

Neutral Stimulus—Bell

Does not normally elicit a response or reflex action by itself a bell ringing a color a furry object

Unconditioned Stimulus—Food

Always elicits a reflex action: an unconditioned response food blast of air noise

Unconditioned Response —Salivation

A response to an unconditioned stimulus—naturally occurring Salivation at smell of food Eye blinks at blast of air Startle reaction in babies

Conditioned Stimulus—Bell

The stimulus that was originally neutral becomes conditioned after it has been paired with the unconditioned stimulus

Will eventually elicit the unconditioned response by itself

Conditioned Response

The original unconditioned response becomes conditioned after it has been elicited by the neutral stimulus

Classical Conditioning Phenomenon

ExtinctionSpontaneous recoveryGeneralizationDiscrimination training

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AcquisitionWhat gets “acquired”? The association between a neutral stimulus (NS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US). How can we tell that acquisition has occurred? The UR now gets triggered by a CS (drooling now gets triggered by a bell).

Timing For the association to be acquired, the neutral stimulus (NS) needs to repeatedly appear before the unconditioned stimulus (US)…about a half-second before, in most cases. The bell must come right before the food.

Acquisition refers to the initial stage of learning/conditioning.

John B. Watson and Little Albert

Conditioned emotional responses

GeneralizationExtinction

Classical Conditioning and Drug Use

Regular use may produce “placebo response” where user associates sight, smell, taste with drug effect

Cognitive Aspects of Classical Conditioning

Reliable and unreliable signals Actively process information Robert Rescorla

Taste Aversions

Early Operant Conditioning

E. L. Thorndike (1898)Puzzle boxes and cats

Scratch at bars

Push at ceiling

Dig at floorSituation:stimuliinside ofpuzzle box

Howl

Etc.

Etc.

Press lever

First Trialin Box

Scratch at bars

Push at ceiling

Dig at floorSituation:stimuliinside ofpuzzle box

Howl

Etc.

Etc.

Press lever

After ManyTrials in Box

Thorndikes Puzzle Box

B. F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning

Did not like Thorndike’s term “satisfying state of affairs”

Interested in emitted behaviorsOperant—voluntary response that

acts on the environment to produce consequences

Reinforcement—the occurrence of a stimulus following a response that increases the likelihood of the response being repeated

Operant Conditioning

Reinforcers

Primary—a stimulus that is inherently reinforcing for a species (biological necessities)

Conditioned—a stimulus that has acquired reinforcing value by being associated with a primary reinforcer

Reinforcement Reinforcement:

feedback from the environment that makes a behavior more likely to be done again. Positive +

reinforcement: the reward is adding something desirable

Negative - reinforcement: the reward is ending something unpleasant

For the meerkat, this warm light is desirable.

This meerkat has just completed a task out in the cold

Behavior shaped by accidental reinforcement

Punishment

Presentation of a stimulus following a behavior that acts to decrease the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated

Don’t think about the beach

Don’t think about the waves, the sand, the towels and sunscreen, the sailboats and surfboards. Don’t think about the beach. Are you obeying the instruction? Would you obey this instruction more if you were punished for thinking about the beach?

Problem: Punishing focuses on what NOT to do, which does not guide people to a desired behavior.Even if undesirable behaviors do stop, another problem behavior may emerge that serves the same purpose, especially if no replacement behaviors are taught and reinforced.

Lesson: In order to teach desired behavior, reinforce what’s right more often than punishing what’s wrong.

Problems with Punishment

Does not teach or promote alternative, acceptable behavior

May produce undesirable results such as hostility, passivity, fear

Likely to be temporary May model aggression

Operant Conditioning Terms

ShapingExtinctionSpontaneous RecoveryDiscriminative StimuliSchedules of Reinforcement

School: long before tablet computers, B.F. Skinner proposed machines that would reinforce students for correct responses, allowing students to improve at different rates and work on different learning goals.

Sports: athletes improve most in the shaping approach in which they are reinforced for performance that comes closer and closer to the target skill (e.g., hitting pitches that are progressively faster).

Work: some companies make pay a function of performance or company profit rather than seniority; they target more specific behaviors to reinforce.

Applications of Operant Conditioning

Discrimination

Discrimination: the ability to become more and more specific in what situations trigger a response.

Shaping can increase discrimination, if reinforcement only comes for certain discriminative stimuli.

For examples, dogs, rats, and even spiders can be trained to search for very specific smells, from drugs to explosives.

Pigeons, seals, and manatees have been trained to respond to specific shapes, colors, and categories.

Bomb-finding rat

Manatee that selects shapes

Reinforcement Schedules

Continuous—every correct response is reinforced; good way to get a low frequency behavior to occur

Partial—only some correct responses are reinforced; good way to make a behavior resistant to extinction

Partial Schedules—Ratio

Ratio schedules are based on number of responses emitted

Fixed ratio (FR)—a reinforcer is delivered after a certain (fixed) number of correct responses

Variable ratio (VR)—a reinforcer is delivered after an average number of responses, but varies from trial to trial

Partial Schedules—Interval

Interval schedules are based on time. Fixed interval (FI)—reinforcer is delivered for

the first response after a fixed period of time has elapsed

Variable interval (VI)—reinforcer is delivered for the first response after an average time has elapsed, differs between trials

Why we might work for money If we repeatedly introduce a neutral

stimulus before a reinforcer, this stimulus acquires the power to be used as a reinforcer.

A primary reinforcer is a stimulus that meets a basic need or otherwise is intrinsically desirable, such as food, sex, fun, attention, or power.

A secondary/conditioned reinforcer is a stimulus, such as a rectangle of paper with numbers on it (money) which has become associated with a primary reinforcer (money buys food, builds power).

How often should we reinforce?

Do we need to give a reward every single time? Or is that even best?

B.F. Skinner experimented with the effects of giving reinforcements in different patterns or “schedules” to determine what worked best to establish and maintain a target behavior.

In continuous reinforcement (giving a reward after the target every single time), the subject acquires the desired behavior quickly.

In partial/intermittent reinforcement (giving rewards part of the time), the target behavior takes longer to be acquired/established but persists longer without reward.

Cognitive Aspects of Operant Conditioning

Cognitive map—term for a mental representation of the layout of a familiar environment

Latent learning—learning that occurs in the absence of reinforcement, but is not demonstrated until a reinforcer is available

Learned helplessness—phenomenon where exposure to inescapable and uncontrollable aversive events produces passive behavior

Learned Helplessness can be produced when negative events are perceived as uncontrollable

Biological Predispositions

Animal training issues

Instinctive drift—naturally occurring behaviors that interfere with operant responses - raccoons rubbed coins

Classical Conditioning vs. Operant Conditioning

Observation Learning

Observation Modeling Imitation Albert Bandura and the Bobo doll study

Antisocial Effects of Observational Learning

What happens when we learn from models who demonstrate antisocial behavior, actions that are harmful to individuals and society?

Children who witness violence in their homes, but are not physically harmed themselves, may hate violence but still may become violent more often than the average child.

Perhaps this is a result of “the Bobo doll effect”? Under stress, we do what has been modeled for us.

            Have a wonderful day. Love you. :) 😃

Media Models of ViolenceDo we learn antisocial behavior such as violence from indirect observations of others in the media?

Research shows that viewing media violence leads to increased aggression (fights) and reduced prosocial behavior (such as helping an injured person).This violence-viewing effect might be explained by imitation, and also by desensitization toward pain in others.

Do what I say, not what I do—

This will teach you to hit your brother—

Why do you do that, you know you get in trouble for it—

Famous last words???